Page 28 of My Playboy Neighbor

"Please," she begged."I need more."

"More what?"Dom asked, adding a second finger.

"More of everything.Harder, faster, I don't care.Just don't stop."

Most women new to this level of intensity needed time to build up, needed careful coaxing to accept more.Maya was asking for it, demanding it with a hunger that matched his own.

"You want harder?"Dom asked.

"Yes," Maya gasped."Please, yes."

Dom reached for the paddle he'd brought, running the smooth leather across Maya's already sensitized skin."Then you'll get harder."

What followed was the most intense scene Dom had orchestrated in years.Maya not only took everything he gave her, she asked for more.When he brought her to the edge of orgasm with his fingers, she begged him to deny her longer.When he used the paddle with increasing force, she thanked him for each strike.

"Fuck, Maya," Dom groaned as he finally pushed inside her, unable to hold back any longer."You're incredible."

Her response was incoherent, lost in the overwhelming sensation of being filled while still restrained and sensitive from the flogging.He set a punishing pace, driven by her earlier demands for more, for harder, for everything he could give her.

When her orgasm finally crashed through her, it was with an intensity that left her sobbing his name.He followed immediately after, his own release triggered by the way she clenched around him and the sound of his name on her lips.

Afterward, as he carefully released her restraints and gathered her into his arms, he studied her face.She looked blissful, completely sated, but there was something else there too—a contentment that went deeper than physical satisfaction.

"How do you feel?"Dom asked, massaging her wrists gently.

"Amazing.Like I finally understand what I've been missing my whole life."

His heart twisted at her words.Most of his previous partners had been satisfied with the physical aspects of dominance and submission, content to explore the pleasure without seeking deeper meaning.She was different.She understood the emotional component, the way surrender could be its own form of power.

As he held her, words rose in his throat that he'd never said to another woman.Three simple words that would change everything between them, that would shatter the careful boundaries he'd established.And leave him vulnerable.

I love you.

The realization hit him like a physical blow.He was falling in love with Maya, the photographer who was supposed to be nothing more than a mutually beneficial arrangement.She challenged him, who trusted him, who submitted to him not out of weakness but out of strength.

Lying there with Maya in his arms, something shifted inside him.For the first time in years, he wasn't performing or calculating his next move.He was just present.

The realization terrified him.This was how it had started with Elena—this feeling of peace, of rightness.But peace made you careless.Made you forget that everyone eventually left when they realized the real you wasn't worth the complications.

Maya stirred against him, her fingers tracing patterns on his chest.His walls slammed back into place.Better to hurt her now, while it was just disappointment, than later when it would destroy them both.

Dom swallowed the words, pushing them down deep where they couldn't escape and ruin everything.He couldn't afford love, couldn't afford the vulnerability and distraction it would bring.His career was hanging by a thread, his reputation in tatters.Adding emotional complications to an already impossible situation would be the height of stupidity.

"Dom?"Maya's voice was soft, concerned."You went quiet.Is everything okay?"

"Fine."His voice was carefully controlled."Just thinking about the schedule tomorrow."

But Maya wasn't fooled.He saw the moment she recognized his emotional retreat, saw the walls going up in her own expression as she pulled away from him slightly.

"Of course," she said, her tone cooling."Back to business."

He wanted to reach for her, to explain that his withdrawal had nothing to do with her and everything to do with his own fears.But the words stuck in his throat, trapped by years of conditioning that had taught him emotional distance was safer than vulnerability.

Instead, he helped her dress in silence, both of them acutely aware that something fundamental had happened between them.She had opened herself completely, had trusted him with her deepest desires and most vulnerable moments.And he had responded by retreating behind the same professional walls that had defined his life for years.

As they rode the elevator back to the penthouse level, he saw her reflection in the polished doors.She looked guarded, her expression reminded him of his own practiced masks.

"Maya," he started, but she cut him off.

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